In UP TO THE CHALLENGE, diner owner Tom Dempsey has a heart attack, and calls on his two sons to help keep the business going while he recuperates. For Lucas Dempsey, this is no easy task. He is a suave, sophisticated attorney in Richmond, Virginia; and busy working on his law career. Coming back to Anchor Island will dredge up the sting of recently losing his fiancé Beth to another man, his own brother Joe. Lucas does his family duty, however; and manages to get a leave of absence from his law firm.

Sid Navarro is unlike any other woman. She is a mechanic who can rebuild or restore almost anything with an engine. Her great dream in life is to buy the rundown building she has had her eyes on for years, and turn it into a boat engine repair and restoration garage. Sid's other great dream is to get a shot at Lucas Dempsey, the man she has had a crush on since high school. She knows that she is not the right kind of woman for an upwardly mobile, high-powered lawyer like Lucas; but it doesn't stop her from wanting him any way she can get him.

As a family friend, Sid is happy to help the Dempseys out at the diner. Working alongside Lucas is another matter entirely. He brings out her competitive nature, and they spend their time throwing barbs at each other, and engaging in spirited competition. When the obvious attraction comes to a head and they succumb to it, Sid grabs for whatever she can have with Lucas; and decides to have an affair with him for the short time he is going to be on the island.

As for Lucas, not only is he running the diner and having an enjoyable fling with Sid; the local retired lawyer keeps throwing clients his way for legal advice. Lucas wants none of it. He just wants to run the diner, do his duty to his family, and spend as much time as possible with Sid. Just when things are going along nicely between them, a monkey wrench gets thrown into their romance. Sid finds out that the garage she has been saving for years to buy has been sold out from under her to an outsider; and Lucas gets the call from his law firm to come back to work immediately, or else.

UP TO THE CHALLENGE is the second book in Terri Osburn's appealing Anchor Island series. Fun, light, and charming; it is a spirited read that keeps the reader's attention throughout. Although the outcome is never in doubt; the story takes some standard romance tropes and gives them a fresh new twist. UP TO THE CHALLENGE is a fluffy treasure to read, and the series looks to continue in the same winning fashion.

Book Summary

When the Dempsey patriarch suffers a heart attack, Lucas Dempsey steps up to keep the doors of the family restaurant open. The proverbial prodigal son returns home to Anchor Island—putting family first and his quest to make partner at his high-powered law firm on hold. Sporting a bruised ego after losing his fiancée to his older brother, Lucas would rather walk on glass than spend six weeks within spitting distance of the happy couple. But family duty calls. And that duty includes working side-by-side with a tantalizing spitfire intent on driving him mad.

Tough-as-nails boat mechanic Sid Navarro is happy to trade her tools for an apron to help the Dempseys in their time of need. That is, until she realizes she’ll be working alongside Lucas, the man she’s loved from afar since she first laid eyes on him in high school. Lucas could charm the paint off a schooner, but Sid knows she doesn’t fit his girl-next-door type. To show her true feelings would mean certain heartbreak, but the temptation of Lucas in her bed might be more than she can resist.

After a rocky start punctuated by verbal barbs and exasperating arguments, things heat up between them—big-time —but their steamy affair turns more than casual in a matter of weeks. Sid’s life has become the dream she’s always wanted, and Lucas has fallen hard for the last woman he ever expected to love.

But this affair has an end-date, as Lucas must return to his life and career in the big city, a place where Sid would never fit in. When the end comes earlier than expected, walking away turns out to be a challenge neither of them wants to win.